What connects and what does not? Where do we diverge, and is it possible – through poetry, literature and sensitivity – to meet despite our differences? During this year’s European Poet of Freedom Festival, we will look for common ground in a world shaped by divisions and crises. The festival’s guiding concept and programme were created by Magdalena Kicińska and Małgorzata Lebda. The Urban Culture Institute invites audiences to Gdańsk on 16–18 April 2026 for the ninth edition of the festival.

POINTS OF CONTACT

Points of contact are spaces in which stimulating encounters take place – both along the reader–text axis and face to face. Points of contact create the conditions for dialogue – conducted with respect and an openness to doubt. We believe that poetry is not only a source of reflection, but also a space of encounter, of seeking shared solutions, and of beauty practised in everyday life; a source of kindness in times when it is so often lacking.

 ‘We are also interested in what hinders contact: the edges of chaos on which we operate today’, says Magdalena Kicińska. ‘A war next door, genocides viewed on a phone screen, political polarisation increasingly translating into growing aggression – these are just some of the threats surrounding us. Other processes affect us too, such as the development of artificial intelligence or accelerating climate change and its consequences. All of this gives rise to justified anxiety, which many of us struggle to cope with’, adds the co-author of the festival concept.

PROGRAMME

Through a range of event formats, as well as by inviting guests from different areas of literature, art and the humanities, we want to address as many aspects as possible connected to the festival’s central theme.

Among this year’s highlights will be a keynote lecture delivered by Maria Peszek. As tradition has it, we will also meet young poets from the international Versopolis network. We will set off on poetic walks – a sound walk with Marcin Dymiter and a nature walk with the oceanographer Professor Jan Marcin Węsławski. The local dimension of the programme will be shaped by the Gdańsk Book Club. The festival will close with a poetry slam hosted by the Klancyk group.

It has become customary for each day’s programme to centre on a debate. On 16 April, we will discuss poetry in times of crisis and states of emergency, focusing on the role, place and power of poetry in the context of social and personal crises. The following day, the debate will turn to the meeting point between culture and AI, including the relationship between poetry and artificial intelligence. On Saturday, we will host two debates: the first devoted to what hinders contact – places where understanding breaks down, points of dispute, and ways of building bridges across divides. The programme will conclude with a debate focused on poetic biographies.

Workshops are another important element of the festival programme. This year, we will offer expert-led sessions, including a poetry translation workshop with Kaja Gucio, as well as a series of meetings designed for specific age groups. For children and young people, introductory sessions into the world of poetry will be led by Joanna Mueller and Joanna Rusinek. For older audiences, Bianka Rolando will offer a creative encounter with poetry.

English translation of the programme will be available soon, for Polish click here. During the Festival some meetings and events will be available with English translation.

THE EUROPEAN POET OF FREEDOM – THE CITY OF GDAŃSK LITERARY AWARD

As always, the festival programme will include meetings with the nominees and laureates of the European Poet of Freedom Award. On the opening day, during the Night Reading of Poetry, audiences will hear poems by the shortlisted poets – including in their own interpretations, in the original languages. On 17 April, we will meet the translators of the nominated volumes. That same day, the award ceremony will take place at the Wybrzeże Theatre, directed by Katarzyna Minkowska and hosted by Katarzyna Kasia. On Saturday, Michał Nogaś will speak with the winning duo: the poet and translator.

We would also like to remind readers that six poetry volumes have been shortlisted for the 2026 Award: Amina Elmi, With All My Love (trans. Bogusława Sochańska); Nora Iuga, The Circle’s Captivity (trans. Enormi Stationis); Laima Kreivytė, States of Weightlessness (trans. Dominika Jagiełka); Luigi Nacci, How Light Passes. Poems from 2004–2024 (trans. Joanna Ganobis); Roger Robinson, A Portable Paradise (trans. Bartosz Wójcik); and A.E. Stallings, The Other Side of the Detail: Poems from 1999–2024 (trans. Janusz Solarz).

GUESTS

This year’s festival guests will include Maria Peszek, Krzysztof Siwczyk, Mykola Riabchuk, Paulina Małochleb, the Już Tłumaczę tandem, the Klancyk group, Alek Hudzik, Jan Sowa, Olga Wróbel, Kalina Błażejowska, Justyna Sobolewska, Izolda Kiec and Michał Nogaś. The festival will also welcome the authors and translators of the shortlisted volumes.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Admission to all events is free of charge. Free registration will be required for selected parts of the programme, including workshops. Entry to the award ceremony is by invitation only. Details regarding registration and how to obtain invitations will be announced soon. Registration will also open shortly for those wishing to take part in the poetry slam.

Selected meetings and debates will be interpreted into Polish Sign Language and English. Further details will be announced soon.

All events – with the exception of the European Poet of Freedom Award ceremony – will take place at the City Culture Institute (Targ Rakowy 11, Gdańsk).

FUNDING

The festival has received funding from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the ‘Promotion of Reading’ programme.

The publication of four of the volumes shortlisted for the 2026 European Poet of Freedom Award has been co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage through the Culture Promotion Fund: Amina Elmi, With All My Love (trans. Bogusława Sochańska); Laima Kreivytė, States of Weightlessness (trans. Dominika Jagiełka); Luigi Nacci, How Light Passes. Poems from 2004–2024 (trans. Joanna Ganobis); and A.E. Stallings, The Other Side of the Detail: Poems from 1999–2024 (trans. Janusz Solarz).

The project is financed through a targeted grant from the City of Gdańsk

The European Poet of Freedom Literary Award is funded by the City of Gdańsk.

ORGANISERS, PARTNERS, PATRONS

The organiser of the festival and the award, as well as the publisher of the European Poet of Freedom – Nominations series, is the Urban Culture Institute.

Partners: Gdańsk House of Literature, Versopolis, Miłosz Festival

Media patrons: Booklips.pl, Gdański Przewodnik Kulturalny, Książki. Magazyn do czytania, Pismo. Magazyn opinii, Prestiż. Magazyn trójmiejski, Radio 357, Radio Gdańsk, Trójmiasto.pl, Tygodnik Powszechny